The present invention relates to novel fluid catalytic cracking catalysts comprising microspheres containing Y-faujasite zeolite and having exceptionally high activity and other desirable characteristics, methods for making such catalysts and the use of such catalysts as activity enhancing additives for cracking petroleum feedstocks.
Since the 1960's, most commercial fluid catalytic cracking catalysts have contained zeolites as an active component. Such catalysts have taken the form of small particles, called microspheres, containing both an active zeolite component and a non-zeolite component. Frequently, the non-zeolitic component is referred to as the matrix for the zeolitic component of the catalyst. The non-zeolitic component is known to perform a number of important functions, relating to both the catalytic and physical properties of the catalyst. Oblad described those functions as follows:                “The matrix is said to act as a sink for sodium in the sieve thus adding stability to the zeolite particles in the matrix catalyst. The matrix serves the additional function of: diluting the zeolite; stabilizing it towards heat and steam and mechanical attrition; providing high porosity so that the zeolite can be used to its maximum capacity and regeneration can be made easy; and finally it provides the bulk properties that are important for heat transfer during regeneration and cracking and heat storage in large-scale catalytic cracking.” A.G. Oblad Molecular Sieve Cracking Catalysts, The Oil And Gas Journal, 70, 84 (Mar. 27, 1972).        
In prior art fluid catalytic cracking catalysts, the active zeolitic component is incorporated into the microspheres of the catalyst by one of two general techniques. In one technique, the zeolitic component is crystallized and then incorporated into microspheres in a separate step. In the second technique, the in-situ technique, microspheres are first formed and the zeolitic component is then crystallized in the microspheres themselves to provide microspheres containing both zeolitic and non-zeolitic components.
It has long been recognized that for a fluid catalytic cracking catalyst to be commercially successful, it must have commercially acceptable activity, selectivity, and stability characteristics. It must be sufficiently active to give economically attractive yields, it must have good selectivity towards producing products that are desired and not producing products that are not desired, and it must be sufficiently hydrothermally stable and attrition resistant to have a commercially useful life.
Two products that are particularly undesirable in commercial catalytic cracking processes are coke and hydrogen. Even small increases in the yields of these products relative to the yield of gasoline can cause significant practical problems. For example, increases in the amount of coke produced can cause undesirable increases in the heat that is generated by burning off the coke during the highly exothermic regeneration of the catalyst. Conversely, insufficient coke production can also distort the heat balance of the cracking process. In addition, in commercial refineries, expensive compressors are used to handle high volume gases, such as hydrogen. Increases in the volume of hydrogen produced, therefore, can add substantially to the capital expense of the refinery.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,902, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by cross-reference, discloses novel fluid cracking catalysts comprising attrition-resistant, high zeolitic content, catalytically active microspheres containing more than about 40%, preferably 50–70% by weight Y faujasite and methods for making such catalysts by crystallizing more than about 40% sodium Y zeolite in porous microspheres composed of a mixture of two different forms of chemically reactive calcined clay, namely, metakaolin (kaolin calcined to undergo a strong endothermic reaction associated with dehydroxylation) and kaolin clay calcined under conditions more severe than those used to convert kaolin to metakaolin, i.e., kaolin clay calcined to undergo the characteristic kaolin exothermic reaction, sometimes referred to as the spinel form of calcined kaolin. In a preferred embodiment, the microspheres containing the two forms of calcined kaolin clay are immersed in an alkaline sodium silicate solution, which is heated, preferably until the maximum obtainable amount of Y faujasite is crystallized in the microspheres.
In practice of the '902 technology, the porous microspheres in which the zeolite is crystallized are preferably prepared by forming an aqueous slurry of powdered raw (hydrated) kaolin clay (Al2O3:2SiO2:2H2O) and powdered calcined kaolin clay that has undergone the exotherm together with a minor amount of sodium silicate which acts as fluidizing agent for the slurry that is charged to a spray dryer to form microspheres and then functions to provide physical integrity to the components of the spray dried microspheres. The spray dried microspheres containing a mixture of hydrated kaolin clay and kaolin calcined to undergo the exotherm are then calcined under controlled conditions, less severe than those required to cause kaolin to undergo the exotherm, in order to dehydrate the hydrated kaolin clay portion of the microspheres and to effect its conversion into metakaolin, this resulting in microspheres containing the desired mixture of metakaolin, kaolin calcined to undergo the exotherm and sodium silicate binder.
In carrying out the invention described in the '902 patent, the microspheres composed of kaolin calcined to undergo the exotherm and metakaolin are reacted with a caustic enriched sodium silicate solution in the presence of a crystallization initiator (seeds) to convert silica and alumina in the microspheres into synthetic sodium faujasite (zeolite Y). The microspheres are separated from the sodium silicate mother liquor, ion-exchanged with rare earth, ammonium ions or both to form rare earth or various known stabilized forms of catalysts. The technology of the '902 patent provides means for achieving a desirable and unique combination of high zeolite content associated with high activity, good selectivity and thermal stability, as well as attrition-resistance.
The aforementioned technology has met widespread commercial success. Because of the availability of high zeolite content microspheres which are also attrition-resistant, custom designed catalysts are now available to oil refineries with specific performance goals, such as improved activity and/or selectivity without incurring costly mechanical redesigns. A significant portion of the FCC catalysts presently supplied to domestic and foreign oil refiners is based on this technology. Refineries whose FCC units are limited by the maximum tolerable regenerator temperature or by air blower capacity seek selectivity improvements resulting in reductions in coke make while the gas compressor limitations make catalysts that reduce gas make highly desirable. Seemingly a small reduction in coke can represent a significant economic benefit to the operation of an FCC unit with air blower or regenerator temperature limitations.
Improvements in cracking activity and gasoline selectivity of cracking catalysts do not necessarily go hand in hand. Thus, a cracking catalyst can have outstandingly high cracking activity, but if the activity results in a high level of conversion to coke and/or gas at the expense of gasoline the catalyst will have limited utility. Catalytic cracking activity in present day FCC catalysts is attributable to both the zeolite and non-zeolite (e.g., matrix) components. Zeolite cracking tends to be gasoline selective. Matrix cracking tends to be less gasoline selective. After appropriate ion-exchange treatments with rare earth cations, high zeolite content microspheres produced by the in situ procedure described in the '902 patent are both highly active and highly gasoline selective. As zeolite content of these unblended microspheres is increased, both activity and selectivity tend to increase. This may be explained by the decrease in matrix content with increase in zeolite content and the decreasingly prominent role of nonselective matrix cracking. Thus, increases in the zeolite content of the high zeolite content microspheres have been reported to be highly desirable.
The activity and selectivity characteristics of the catalysts formed by the process of the '902 patent are achieved even though, in general, the catalysts have relatively low total porosity as composed to fluid catalytic cracking catalysts prepared by incorporating the zeolite content into a matrix. In particular, the microspheres of such catalysts, in some cases, have a total porosity of less than about 0.15 cc/g. or even less than about 0.10 cc/g. In general, the microspheres of the '902 patent have a total porosity of less than 0.30 cc/g. As used herein, “total porosity” means the volume of pores having diameters in the range of 35–20,000 Å, as determined by the mercury porosimetry technique. The '902 patent noted that it was surprising that microspheres having a total porosity of less than about 0.15 cc/g. exhibit the activity and selectivity characteristics found. For example, such a result is contrary to the prior art disclosures that low pore volumes “can lead to selectivity losses due to diffusional restrictions.”
It is believed that the relatively low porosity of the catalyst microspheres formed as in the '902 patent does not adversely effect activity and selectivity characteristics, since the microspheres of the '902 patent are not diffusion limited relative to the typical FCC processing conditions which were used at the time of the patent. In particular, catalyst contact time with the feed to be cracked was typically 5 seconds or more. Thus, while typical FCC catalysts formed by mechanically incorporating the zeolite within a matrix may have been more porous, the reaction time in prior art FCC risers did not yield any advantage in activity or selectivity. This result inspired the conclusion that transport processes were not at all limiting in FCC catalysts, at least outside the zeolite structure. Assertions made to the contrary were inconsistent with the facts and easily dismissed as self-serving. Importantly, the attrition resistance of the microspheres prepared in accordance with the '902 patent was superior to the conventional FCC catalysts in which the crystallized zeolite catalytic component was physically incorporated into the non-zeolitic matrix.
Recently, however, FCC apparatus have been developed which drastically reduce the contact time between the catalyst and the feed which is to be cracked. Conventionally, the reactor is a riser in which the catalyst and hydrocarbon feed enter at the bottom of the riser and are transported through the riser. The hot catalyst effects cracking of the hydrocarbon during the passage through the riser and upon discharge from the riser, the cracked products are separated from the catalyst. The catalyst is then delivered to a regenerator where the coke is removed, thereby cleaning the catalyst and at the same time providing the necessary heat for the catalyst in the riser reactor. The newer riser reactors operate at lower residence time and higher operating temperatures to minimize coke selectivity and delta coke. Several of the designs do not even employ a riser, further reducing contact time to below one second. Gasoline and dry gas selectivity can improve as a result of the hardware changes. These FCC unit modifications are marketed as valuable independent of the type of catalyst purchased, implying an absence of systematic problems in state of the art catalyst technology.
The processing of increasingly heavier feeds in FCC type processes and the tendency of such feeds to elevate coke production and yield undesirable products have also led to new methods of contacting the feeds with catalyst. The methods of contacting FCC catalyst for very short contact periods have been of particular interest. Thus, short contact times of less than 3 seconds in the riser, and ultra short contact times of 1 second or less have shown improvements in selectivity to gasoline while decreasing coke and dry gas production. However, higher contact times are more prevalent in older FCC units where the times can be up to 7 seconds but are more typically 5 seconds.
To compensate for the continuing decline in catalyst to oil contact time in FCC processing, the “equilibrium” catalysts in use have tended to become more active. Thus, increases in the total surface area of the catalyst need to be achieved and as well, the level of rare earth oxide promoters added to the catalysts are increasing. Moreover, cracking temperatures are rising to compensate for the reduction in conversion. Unfortunately, it has been found that the API gravity of the bottoms formed during short contact time (SCT) often increases after a unit revamp, leading some to suggest that the heaviest portion of the hydrocarbon feed takes longer to crack. Further, while a high total surface area of the catalyst is valued, the FCC process still values attrition resistance. Accordingly, while not obvious to those participating in the art, it has become increasingly likely that an optimization of FCC catalysts for the new short contact time and ultra short contact time processing which is presently being used is needed.
It is now theorized, that under the short contact time processing of hydrocarbons, that further improvements can be gained by eliminating diffusion limitations that may still exist in current catalysts. This is being concluded even as these materials excel at the application. It is theorized that improvements in these catalysts may be produced by optimization of catalyst porosity and the elimination of active site occlusion and diffusional restrictions of the binder phases present in catalysts prepared by the so-called incorporation method.
While the present assignee has produced zeolite microspheres with increased zeolite content and increased activity by increasing the macroporosity of the spray dried microsphere zeolite precursors, the porosity of the formed zeolite microsphere catalysts has not before been considered a problem since there has been found no diffusion limitation under the previous FCC processing techniques. For example, commonly assigned, U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,233, to Speronello discloses increasing the zeolite content of an in-situ catalyst by forming highly porous precursor microspheres, which allow increased amounts of zeolite to grow within the porous matrix. The highly porous precursor microspheres are formed by spray drying a slurry of hydrous kaolin clay, which is characterized by the presence of a major amount of large (greater than 2 microns) kaolin stacks along with spinel calcined clay. When spray dried, the coarse hydrous kaolin results in microspheres having a desired high content of macropores in which the zeolite Y can grow. Likewise, commonly assigned, U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,220, to Dight, et. al. also increases the macroporosity of the precursor microspheres by spray drying a mixture of hydrous clay, metakaolin and spinel. These catalyst microspheres have a substantial level of zeolite and are very active and selective. Further, the high alumina, silica-alumina matrix portion of the catalysts is often totally surrounded by the zeolite formed in-situ such that the matrix is only now understood to provide a reduced level of bottoms cracking under the short contact time FCC conditions.